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Happy birthday to Mr. Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones, who was born on the 28th February 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (UK)!

At the age of 17, Brian received his first acoustic guitar from his parents as a birthday present. After quitting school, Jones moved to London, where he he crossed paths with people like Alexis Korner, Paul Jones and Jack Bruce. In 1962, Brian Jones was searching for musicians to found his own band. First, pianist Ian „Stu“ Stewart came along and shortly after that, singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards joined. And the group was called after the Muddy Waters song „Rollin‘ Stone“. On the 12th July 1962, the first live performance took place at the Marquee Club in London. Beside Jones, Jagger, Richards and Stewart, the line-up was completed by bassist Dick Taylor and drummer Tony Chapman. On the 7th December 1962, Bill Wyman replaced Taylor and in January 1963 Charlie Watts took over the place from Chapman behind the drums.

Bill Wyman about Brian Jones and The Rolling Stones: „He formed the band. He chose the members. He named the band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs. Very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it – highly intelligent – and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away.“

Brian Jones lost more and more the control of the band, because Jagger and Richards became the songwriting team of the Stones. Brian slipped into heavy drug problems over the years and in June 1969 he left the band and Mick Taylor became his substitute. Only one month later, Brian Jones was found dead in his swimming pool. On the 3rd July 1969 he passed away at the age of 27.

Happy birthday to Mr. Richard Clifford „Dick“ Taylor, who was born on the 28th January 1943 in Dartford, Kent (UK). Dick was the first bass player for The Rolling Stones back in 1962 and founded one year later the legendary The Pretty Things!

In the sixties, guitarist Dick Taylor attended the Sidcup Art College in London and during that time, he played with singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards together in a group called „Little Boy Blue And The Blue Boys“. In July 1962 the trio joined Brian Jones and Ian Stewart, who founded the band „Rollin‘ Stones“. Since two guitarists were in the line-up, Dick took over the bass part. In November 1962, Dick Taylor left the band and returned to art college. Mr. Bill Wyman took over the place in December of the same year and became the new member of the now called The Rolling Stones.

This day is a very special one, because two great musicians have their birthdays on the same day. Well, I mean EXACTLY on the same day! And – both are Rolling Stones: Mr. Keith Richards and Robert Henry „Bobby“ Keys were born on the 18th December 1943! Or as it Keith pointed it out in his book „Life„: „We were born approximately at the same time, certainly in different cities: He in Lubbock (Texas, USA), me in Dartford (Kent, UK). My best friend Bobby Keys.“

More about this fact (from the offical tourbook „Voodoo Lounge – World Tour1994/1995″):

„Born on the same day, month and year as Keith Richards, Texas Saxman Bobby Keys was made to play with the Stones. He made his debut – and introduced horns on the Stones sound – on the song ‚Live with me‚ off 1969’s ‚Let it Bleed‚ album. But it’s his distinctive blend with Keith’s guitar on ‚Brown Sugar‚ riff two years later that really made him indispensable, although Keys calls it a one-take special. He says, he first met the band long before he began recording and touring with them. ‚I met the Stones when I played with Bobby Vee back in 1963′, he says. ‚It was their first trip to the USA. I met them in San Antonio, Texas, at the ‚Dick Clarke Teenage World Fair‘.“
Bobby Keys passed away on the 2nd December 2014. Keith has twittered this note on that very sad day:

For the Rolling Stones biographer Sean Egan it was a „Brian Jones‚ record. He was always the biggest Blues purist in the band.“ And bass player Bill Wyman remembers the recording: „‚Little Red Rooster'“ was a slow, intense Blues song, totally uncommercial and wrong for our new-found fame. The tempo made the track virtually undanceable.“ And Mick Jagger recalls: „The reason we recorded ‚Little Red Rooster‘ isn’t because we want to bring Blues to the masses. We’ve been going on and on about blues, so we thought it was about time we stopped talking and did something about it. We liked that particular song, so we released it.“

When Bill joined The Rolling Stones in 1962, the band was also impressed by his instrument and amplifiers. Wyman was married, employed and the oldest member of the Stones at their beginning. Drummer Charlie Watts followed in January 1963 and so the classic line up was complete with Mick Jagger (Vocals, Harmonica), Keith Richards (Guitar), Brian Jones (Guitar) and Ian Stewart (Keyboards). With the release (7th June 1963) of the first single „Come On“ (Chuck Berry cover) the legendary history of The Rolling Stones has been started.